Bob CollinsJust a week after he was diagnosed with lung cancer, Billy Glaze died this morning, the Star Tribune reports. He was convicted of a series of murders of American Indian women in Minneapolis in the 1980s. But he may have been an innocent man. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
By Bob Collins
Bob Collins retired from Minnesota Public Radio in 2019 after 12 years of writing NewsCut and pointing out to complainants that posts weren’t news stories. A son of Massachusetts, he was a news editor 1992-1998, created the MPR News regional website in 1999, invented the popular Select A Candidate, started several blogs, and every day lamented that his Minnesota Fantasy Legislature project never caught on.
CBS News anchor Scott Pelley reminds us that if some people didn’t get in the line of fire, the public might never know what happened. Sixty-nine journalists have been killed in 2015. Read more →
The more pages I read in Mary Norris’ book (Mary would insist I add an ‘s’ to that, but I refuse, in deference to the Taylor sisters), the more I want to ask the people who made up all of these rules of our language one question: Who hurt you? Read more →
This is the time of year when the small mysteries of winter can occupy us for literally minutes at a time. Read more →
Space and technology can still provide a few ‘gee whiz’ moments and SpaceX’s effort to create a reusable rocket finally paid off last evening when the Falcon 9 rocket landed perfectly upright, ending a short string of spectacular disasters in previous attempts.
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This is the Christmas card we should all be getting before we go off and do what too many of us around here seem to do.
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It’s hard to imagine anyone will still want to be president once the new season of Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee debuts. Read more →
After a spate of high-profile airline problems in which passengers were stranded on planes for hours even though they were within sight of a gate, the Department of Transportation imposed rules with heavy fines for significant delays.
The airline industry warned that the rule would actually lead to more delays because they’d just cancel flights rather than delay them.
A study out today says that’s just what happened. Read more →
A Minnesota police officer blocks your car in parking lot, shines his spotlight on you and asks you to take a breathalyzer test. You refuse and lose your license. Legal? The judges said yes. Read more →
If there’s a more despicable disease, I’m unaware of it. Perhaps that’s why you don’t hear a lot of politicians criticizing a huge increase in Alzheimer’s research.
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Somewhere in the Maplewood area is a couple who could’ve taken off with a pouch full of cash, the week’s receipts for a hair stylist who had put it on the roof of his car in a parking lot and got distracted taking care of his young son. Read more →
Not sure about you, but I didn’t quit my job this week so that I could help someone I don’t know.
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The better story right now is the one Wemple has been pedaling all week: the New York Times appears to have been far more incompetent in its work than the federal authorities were in theirs. Read more →
There’s a new poll out with questions surrounding the Middle East and the so-called “war on terror.” But before we talk about them, please answer these questions. Read more →
These are either the best of times or the worst of times for older men with white beards. For the ‘get off my lawn’ crowd, it’s probably the latter. Read more →